Desert Blooms
by SouthernMysticalSummerNights
Summary: Taking place three years after the events in "The Return", Aaliyah and Ardeth return in this next installment, and this time, with their own little family. What new adventures lies in store for them? And how will they solve it this time? This is the third book in the 'Sister Saga', please read 'Sister' & 'The Return' first!


Sorry this third installment took so long, but here it is! If you guys would like to see anything, let me know! Like, would you rather see Imhotep return or another force to be reckoned with!

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"No, wait Zariah!" My two year old daughter loved to run every chance she got. She stopped and then giggled. "Sorry mama!" She reached her arms out, wanting me to pick her up.

I chuckled as I reached down and picked her up. It had been three years since we killed Imhotep (again), and I hoped that was the last time that we would ever have to. I just wanted to focus on raising my family, and not have to worry about them being in any danger of him.

Ardeth and I had ended up getting married within six months of him asking me, and six months later, I had discovered that I was pregnant. I know the peoples of the tribes were hoping that the child would be a boy, so he could take over as the Chieftain once he was old enough, but alas, this baby was a girl. My grandparents were probably a bit disappointed like everyone else, but nonetheless, they were happy, and Zariah was one spoiled child.

I knew we could have other kids, and hopefully get a boy, and Ardeth wasn't too worried about that, but I was, on the other hand. I was 35 years old, and I wasn't getting any younger. Either way, we doted on our daughter and she brought so much joy in our lives. "How about we go and check on the horses?"

"Otay!" She squealed with delight. I carried her over to the stables near the house that I had grew up in in Cairo. Ardeth spilt his time between the Tribes and Cairo, and didn't mind me raising the kids here, especially since after the former curator's death, I helped out a lot in the museum. I opened the stable doors and put her down. I had lost Abrar last year, and it was a really sad time for me, since it was almost like losing my father all over again. I did however, managed to breed him before he passed, and that had resulted in births of three offspring. One of them, a filly named Farah, that was the same age as my daughter, so, she was picked to be my daughter's horse.

Another one, a colt named Habib was born a month before Abrar passed, so he was a year old. And just last week, the last offspring was born. Since mares are pregnant for eleven months, he was born after his sire's death. He didn't yet have a name. I walked her over to the stall. "Do you know what we should name the foal?" I asked my daughter.

"Nadir!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. "Okay. Nadir it is." I agreed, putting her down. She giggled. "Prweety pony."

"It's not a pony darling." I gently corrected her. "It's called a foal."

"Oh, otay mama." She made herself content, just watching the week old foal with his mother. After a moment, I straightened back up and went to the corner to the feed bucket, so the horses could be fed their breakfast. I barely got the feed in the first bowl when I heard Zariah.

"Baba!" I chuckled slightly to myself. I knew that my husband had returned with those words. I looked up from what I was doing to watch Zariah running over to him. He chuckled as he picked her up.

"Hey al-amireh." He kissed her forehead. "Have you been good for your mama?"

"Yes." He chuckled and walked over to where I was. "Habibty." He murmured, kissing me.

I smiled and kissed him back. "Hey. You're early." I wasn't expecting to see him back until tomorrow night.

He nodded. "I managed to get away early. It's fairly quiet, and not much is going on, so I turned everything over to Amir for a bit." He wrapped an arm around me. "How are things here?" He asked.

"Slow, since most of the tourists have left. Though in about three more months, the summer crowds will be in." I loved the springtime here. It felt quiet, peaceful and empty, and it wasn't too hot either.

"I noticed." He nodded, putting Zariah down and he helped me to finish feeding the horses. We headed back to the house after we were done, Zariah running ahead, though we had to remind her a couple times to slow down and not get too far ahead.

"Gwarden mama." Zariah stopped once she got to the house and pointed at it. I supposed it was about time to start working in the garden again.

"Yes, I know. We have to set the garden up again. I just haven't been to the market yet to get the seeds."

Ardeth looked over to me. "We can go now if you want?"

I nodded. "I just need to get the stroller. I don't trust Zariah not to run out in front of cars." I went in and got the stroller, and Zariah pouted about having to be put in one, but upon giving her her doll, she was fine. He pushed the stroller while I followed along.

"Have you spoke to your brother and Evy lately?" He asked. "Are they still sending Alex this summer?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she wants to go to Greece this time, so they are going there, and didn't really want to have to bring Alex this time. My nephew was 11 years old now, and Evy just wanted an uneventful trip, but clearly, doesn't understand how my brother words. "And Zariah is excited that her cousin is coming."

We reached the market around 5 minutes later, and we got everything that we needed, including the seeds for the garden, which Zariah was really excited about, and she had said she wanted to work on the garden as soon as we got home, and that's exactly what we did, then it was time to go in, eat supper, and then bath and bed for her.

She put up quite a fight at first because she didn't want to go to bed, but as soon as we put her to bed, she fell asleep.

"Wasn't sleepy huh?" Ardeth commented after shutting her door.

"Every night for her." I slightly shook my head.


End file.
